Bryant Gillespie: Learn how to build a better sign and print shop from a
few crusty sign guys who've made more mistakes than they care to admit.
Conversations and advice on pricing, sales, marketing,
workflow, growth, and more.
Your listening to The Better Sign Shop podcast With your hosts, Peter COIs,
Michael O'Reilly, and Bryant Gillespie.
Before we jump into the episode, I'd like to give a shout out to
our sponsor, GCI Digital Imaging Grand Format Printer to the Trade.
We talk a lot about outsourcing on the podcast and the importance of having.
Good partners and gci Digital Imaging is a good partner to have owner TJ
Bak and his team focus on providing killer customer service just the
way grandmother used to make it.
If you're interested in learning their approach to business, hop
back into the archives to episode nine where the guys and I interview
TJ about customer experience.
So if you're looking for a high quality trade printer for banners, wraps,
and other printed graphics that your customers throw at you, check out
GCI Digital imaging@printgci.com.
Alright guys, welcome to the next edition of the Better Sign Shop podcast.
As always got my colleague and co-host Peter the sign Shop Yoda.
Peter Kourounis: What's up?
What's up?
Happy to be here, everybody.
I feel like I had to put a little flare into it that time.
Yeah.
I feel like I'm like entering into like a boxing ring or better
yet, like a wrestling ring.
Like, eh, what's going?
That's me.
Yeah.
What's up?
Bryant Gillespie: Are we gonna start getting like some music going?
Peter Kourounis: No, I don't think so.
Bryant Gillespie: No.
What the folks come for?
Peter Kourounis: Nope.
Nope.
Cool.
Um,
Bryant Gillespie: Mike is absent today, so we're gonna soldier on without 'em.
I'm really excited for today.
We've got a special guest.
Uh, we'll talk about that in a minute, but let's catch up real quick, man.
How's, thanks.
Peter Kourounis: It's been good.
It's been good.
You know, um, I'm enjoying working with a couple of sign shop owners, uh, helping
them navigate through their, their issues.
Uh, I'm learning a lot.
As a matter of fact, you know, like there are.
There are things that are happening in my sign shop, coaching, consulting,
coaching, whatever you wanna call it, that I'm realizing that there are a
lot of owners out there that are, that don't have answers to some, to some
of these like, real simple questions.
Like, what?
Yeah, well, you know, I wanna respect everybody's privacy, but, you know, for
the, uh, these people won't be named.
But for the most part, you know, like, how do you do rush charges?
You know, like, when should you charge a rush charge?
And how much should you charge on rush charges?
Uh, go.
Just thinking back, you know, like employee handbook, employee manual, like,
what should, should not be included?
You know, should it be three pages long?
Should it be 30 pages long?
So, you know, there, there's some things from on a, when you put on, when you
decide to be a business owner, when you decide to be a sign shop business owner,
you are getting into a field where you are gonna be wearing many different hats.
And not many of these people that I'm working with understood that.
Like, they just think, ah, yeah, I was the graphic designer of this other shop.
I decided to open up my own place and now I'm going to be the
business owner and be the head hot.
The head chief, chief.
And it's like, yeah, well, you know, when should you charge three and a half?
Should I be charging three and a half percent on credit cards or should I not?
Should I be reducing that?
When should I charge a rush charge?
When should I charge my, like what happens if it's my biggest client
and their, and their, uh, their order comes in under the minimum?
Should I put it through at that price?
Should I put them through?
Should I subject them to my minimum order requirement?
There's so many questions that are being asked and I'm enjoying every little bit
of it because it keeps me on my toes.
But these things that yeah, you know, naturally come.
Maybe some of us, you know, we, we would know how to answer that.
We wouldn't have to ask that question.
But there are a lot of sign shop owners out there that, you know, are listening
to this podcast and, you know, reaching out to me and saying, Hey, you know,
what would you do in this situation?
And, and I'm loving every little bit of it.
So that's, uh, that's really what's going on with me these past few days.
Yeah.
Bryant Gillespie: Yeah.
I've seen some of these questions come up in the community as well of, uh, like rush
charges and things like that, and there's always, there's always some nuance to it.
Right.
Um, and maybe that's the part that they're just struggling with.
Peter Kourounis: Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, there's a big customer, it's their biggest customer.
Do I risk upsetting that big customer?
And then on this one job, you know, there's always ways to tiptoe
around certain situations and, and being a, uh, sign shop coach, you
know, these people are excessive.
Very, I have made myself very excessive to.
To these people.
Like they can accessible, uh, accessible.
Right?
Excessive, accessible, excessive, no accessible.
I've made myself accessible to these people, you know, that they're writing me,
uh, on our Slack channel and, you know, it seems like I'm in their back pocket
the moment they have a situation arise.
They get, they pill out their phone and they're, ah, what would you do here?
And I'm like, yeah.
All right.
I can answer that really quickly.
That's a quick, that's a quick little answer, you know, and one of
the things that I've been getting a lot of feedback on, uh, just to
kind of lead Wet your palate, wet your beak here a little bit, is,
do
Bryant Gillespie: you know I'm all about wetting my beak?
My man
Peter Kourounis: is this signed business PDF that's in our,
uh, dine shop community, right?
Like it's under, it's one of those free resources.
Yeah.
Yeah, right.
It's like 108 pages long.
But everybody that's read it, they have hit me with the.
You have, you have
Pandora's Box.
Oh my God.
Everything.
It's like, like everything connects the moment they read this PDF and
I'm like, guys, I didn't write it.
Okay.
Yeah.
I found it from some dude many, many years ago.
I don't even know where he is anymore.
But, you know, we threw it up there.
We, it's a great, it, it made a significant impact in my life and it's
making a significant impact in others' lives as well, especially regarding
the sign rising area, you know?
Right.
Yeah.
Uh, we don't, we, this is a touchy topic for almost every sign shop owner in
the, in the continental US is pricing.
But
Bryant Gillespie: I do, I would say the
Peter Kourounis: world this point.
Right.
You know what?
Absolutely.
Australia, wherever these people come from, pricing.
In this world of businesses, like we could talk for days, not hours, days on,
on pricing and how to do it correctly.
But you read this PDF and a lot of my clients are saying, oh my God.
Oh, it all makes sense.
Everything that I've thought, everything that I've said, everything
that I've heard on this podcast, it's like all the dots finally connected.
It's, it's like Tony Stark.
It's finally making an element to make a brand new, you know,
self sustained electricity.
It's like that.
Boom.
Haha, I've done it.
I've a time travel.
No, I've solved sign pricing.
Read the pdf.
If
Bryant Gillespie: you haven't.
I'm gonna have the editor just.
Chop in all the sound effects and like some explosions
and stuff for this episode,
Peter Kourounis: right?
No, read the pdf, but the, the clients that I've had, they are, uh,
they're absolutely taken back by it.
And, uh, yeah, that's, uh, it's been really great to see.
I didn't write it.
I'm not the author, so don't give me the accolades, but I'll take them anyway.
Yeah.
Bryant Gillespie: Excellent.
Well, man, yeah, I'm glad you're excited about it.
I, I knew you wouldn't stay retired for too long,
Peter Kourounis: so that's good.
I love the business, man.
I mean, there's what's not to love about the sign shop industry.
In fact, I am really excited about our guest here today.
First of all, it's a, it's a, she's a fellow Sian signs franchisee.
Yes.
I'm not, I'm no longer a franchisee, but I.
I'm so happy to have a franchise owner on this show.
I,
Bryant Gillespie: I, I hate that Mike's not gonna be here for this
one because he, you guys have always gone at the, the fast science thing,
Peter Kourounis: but, well, I'm go, I'm gonna ask her like,
one huge question for her.
I'm gonna ask her what the million dollar question, right?
As soon as she jumps on here is, does Fast Signs get a bad rap in
her, in her neck of the woods?
Does it get a bad rap?
And I wanna know, I wanna know, because, you know, the industry
experts here, you know, we've had TJ on here not too long ago.
We've had, you know, he said Fast Signs is one of his biggest clients, right?
But they're fast signs, you know, whatever the heck that means.
I don't know.
But they're fast signs.
Like people like say there's Fast Signs Insam, and then
there's the real Sign shops.
I wanna know if she believes in that, and we're gonna ask her here today.
Yeah, yeah.
Bryant Gillespie: Well, let me like set the stage a little bit, right?
This is Women's History Month.
Yesterday was what?
International Women's Day.
Women's Day, yeah.
Women's Day.
And here we are, the day later recording the podcast.
I, this won't go out for several weeks.
Uh, so I feel like we're a little disorganized there, but, uh, extremely
happy to welcome our first female guest.
To give you some context.
Her name is Carrie Brock.
She is a fast signs franchisee.
They're one of the fast signs that is, uh, here.
I, I'm, I'm being a little partial, I'll say one of the fast signs.
There may be many that are actually doing larger sign projects in-house.
Peter Kourounis: So, and if I'm not mistaken, if I'm not
mistaken, she's in Toledo, right?
I believe so.
Toledo, and she has this.
Formula that she was able to crack.
Right.
And she's that we're gonna like, dive into what that is here.
Like she, she has like a little bit of like a secret sauce that worked for her.
If I'm not mistaken, I'm really eager to hear all about that
Bryant Gillespie: national award-winning sign and branding package winner.
Peter Kourounis: Wow.
Well,
we are in the presence of a significant franchisee here.
All right.
I like it.
Yeah.
Bryant Gillespie: Yeah.
I don't, I don't know what the tears were, but I, I would think that she's on
the, the top rung of the, the fast signs.
Did you guys have tears behind the scenes?
Was
Peter Kourounis: there like a No, no, no, no.
It was not.
Bryant Gillespie: I, I, I, I'm, I'm pegging it as like a cult
Peter Kourounis: or something, you know?
You know, one thing that's really interesting about, you know, having
been in this company, and I, I love all the people there on the executive team,
and they do a really great job of, of bringing in people in this franchise.
But, uh, I have ne I have never met Carrie, and, and I've gone
to several of the conventions.
I, I, I think I've seen her, I think I've, I do know of her, but we have
never been formally introduced and there is no groupings, you know, fast
signs doesn't say like, here's the elite and then here's the poor man.
You know, they don't do that.
They don't do that.
They put everybody, everybody's equal.
Everybody follows the same model.
Everybody follows the same simple formula, but some people do it
at a little different scale.
Right.
I chose to do fabrication and she does too.
But there are a significant amount of franchisees in this
system that do not do fabrication.
They outsource this, they utilize the fast signs.
Bryant Gillespie: Did you guys have like a preferred, like in-network vendor
Peter Kourounis: for that type of Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.
They, they use the preferred vendor network that Fast Signs built out.
They have this really great system where you could just like in the backend, like
click pipe in channel letters and then the system tells you like, okay, these are
all the vendors that do channel letters.
So if you're looking for something specific, they have a really great
ability to search by product and locate a vendor that might be near
you or might be across the country, but is the better priced vendor.
And then there's all these vendors that have, you know, discounts
for fast signs and X, Y, Z.
So, you know, it's, uh, it's a really great, they've built
a really great infrastructure.
I'm, I used, like I said, I used to be a part of it, very
happy to have been a part of it.
But I'm always eager to hear what somebody else has done in a, in
their journey as a franchisee.
And I'm, and I'm really eager to hear what, you know, being, being a business
owner, being a woman, bus business owner in this market, in her market, what
that's like, and I'm, I'm sure that our listeners would like to know as well.
Yeah.
I,
Bryant Gillespie: I think that's the angle that I'm very interested in exploring
as, as well as the, the women in signage.
Like, you know, it's in our tagline, the crusty sign guys.
But you know, it like, I feel like the women that I've seen in our Facebook
community, and I, I'm gonna call out the men here, like, I've seen the women asking
way better questions, uh, from a business owner perspective than some of the men.
Really, and I, I'm, I'm curious to I have, yeah.
And I'm curious to, I wanna ask about that.
All right, guys.
So we are back with our guest, Carrie Brock from Fast Signs in Toledo.
And what's the, what's the second office?
Carrie, I'm gonna pronounce it wrong.
Mommy.
Mommy, ma.
Mommy.
Yeah.
Close enough.
All right.
Well, super nice to have you and welcome officially as our first
female guest on the podcast.
I have no idea how we made it to like 15 episodes without a female guest,
but we're super honored to have you.
Karrie Brock: Well, thank you.
I'm honored to be here and I know because it's a male dominated
industry that's don't have as many to pull from, but watch out.
We're out there.
Bryant Gillespie: I do.
You guys have showed up in force.
Are you ladies, I should say, I have to be careful of my, my words.
You ladies have showed up in full force in our community and it was
a very proud moment for us to, to see that many people show up.
Of course, we were kind of worried at first it was like,
who is spamming our community?
Because it, it, there's so many of you that signed up in a single day,
we were like, this is not possible.
Peter Kourounis: Well,
Karrie Brock: it got posted in, um, the wise group, so, which is all
women in signs and everything else.
And so that, that's kind of where it came from.
But you guys have been actually very gracious.
You know, sometimes it's not as easy to talk to guys in the sign industry.
We, we don't always have a warm welcome, so we appreciate that from your end too.
Peter Kourounis: Excellent.
Well, this has been, this is a, a great moment for me.
I'm not the o I'm only Fast signs franchisee any longer on the podcast,
so that's, I'm super excited.
Uh, how long have you been with, uh, the franchise?
Karrie Brock: I have been with the franchise for about 12 years.
We were a conversion.
Peter Kourounis: You were?
I was a, I was a conversion as well.
Nice, nice.
Excellent.
And what was the name of your friend, uh, your company before that?
Signs and Designs.
What a standard Desi sign
Karrie Brock: shop name, right?
Pretty, pretty common.
Nothing fancy?
Peter Kourounis: No.
Nope, Nope.
Signs.
I think I have a Signs and designs in my, in on Long Island, somewhere around here.
Well, was there,
Bryant Gillespie: was there any z at the end of it or No,
it was, oh no, just all Ss.
Ok.
Karrie Brock: Just all ss.
Bryant Gillespie: There's so many of those.
Peter Kourounis: Yes.
So you've been with Fast Signs now 12 years.
Uh, and you have, did I understand this right?
You have a couple of different locations?
Karrie Brock: Yep.
We have two locations.
They're only about 10 minutes apart.
Peter Kourounis: But walk me through your journey.
How did you start and then did you convert both of 'em at the same time?
Karrie Brock: Yep.
So we, uh, I actually started in the industry in 97, my own shop.
I had worked at a vinyl shop in college.
I absolutely loved it, loved the industry, and just went my way and
decided to open up my own place.
And about 14 years in fast signs came knocking.
This was a new business model for them, was to convert local mom and pops.
So I was like, okay, well prove to me why.
And they did.
And, and we really saw some good benefits to joining the network.
So we signed on.
At that point, we only had the one location and the other location we
opened about six or seven years ago.
Peter Kourounis: Okay.
So they, they approached you and you said, tell me why.
Right.
I have the reasons I'll, I want to hear what your reasons were.
Go ahead.
Karrie Brock: Well, I, I struggled with that cuz they're all like, do your due
diligence, do your d But we were in the beginning stages of their whole transition
of, you know, converting people.
So I didn't have a lot of people to talk to.
And I remember calling up Dan and Naomi Stutzman.
They were the first conversion for our network.
Uh, and I talked to Dan for probably 45 minutes and at the end of the
call he told me, I for sure thought you were not going to do it.
Wow.
And, uh, so I'm like, well, surprise.
Um, but I think that we were, look, you know, we were an average center size
when we signed up and I was looking for something greater, something bigger.
And we have a good network of people locally.
You know, one of my best friends own a mom and pop shop down the street.
We absolutely get along and help each other back and forth as much as we can.
But having that.
Nationwide network was a big pull for us.
Plus we wanted an outside salesperson.
They had an initiative for that.
We wanted, you know, the marketing behind it so that I
didn't have to worry about that.
So there were some added benefits on that scope that we thought
were, that made sense for us.
Peter Kourounis: Excellent, excellent.
And, well, I can't imagine what that conversation was like many years ago,
but why don't you just go into it just a minute if you could, and just tell me
what you see now today, looking back, what those advantages are of being a franchisee
versus being an independent company.
Karrie Brock: Sure.
I mean, to be honest, I, somebody asked me the other day, you
know, would you do it again?
I've said, yes.
I wish I would've done it sooner.
I wish I would've started as a franchise because I feel like I, I learned so much
on my own and had to, you know, make my own mistakes and trip through everything.
Even though I had the experience through college, it was
more so the business aspect.
You know, I was the creative, I was the graphic designer.
That's why I started it, and now I'm like, oh my gosh, I
actually have to know my numbers.
I have to know why we're doing this.
I have to know how to bark things up.
I'm like, how does this work?
So I, I wish we would've started it sooner.
Yeah, exactly.
Bryant Gillespie: Just talking about the creative angle before,
uh, before you jumped on, it's like serendipity almost, of like, Hey, hey.
You start out as a graphic designer and then you, you wanna move up, there's
nowhere to go in in most shops, right?
What do you do?
You start your own shop.
And then the real challenge of of actually managing and running the
business end of it kind of rears its head.
Karrie Brock: Yeah, and I think you guys do a great job.
You know, I, we've, I've navigated through your back end of your website
and helping people with those things that they struggle with, that they don't maybe
have the support of a franchise network.
So, you know, it's, it's those items that drove us to our decision.
And I, again, wish we would've done it sooner, but
Peter Kourounis: Yeah.
But here we're not, you know, it's I star, uh, my background.
I started a franchise, right?
Converted it over to Fast Signs in 2019 or so, and.
Learning about what their systems look like.
I realized just how advantageous it would be for a small
business sign shop to come in.
And we were talking about like the vendor network.
That was what we were talking about.
Just, uh, just a few minutes before you jumped on here and talking about
how easy it is to like source a vendor that can do something for you, say like
channel letters or stickers or, you know, floor graphics, whatever, because
you couldn't do it, you know, yourself, so you would tap into their network.
So when we've modeled the, what we're doing here at the, at the, my
Better Sign Shop community is we're trying to, we're not a franchise.
We're, we're definitely not looking to be a franchise, but we are looking
to put that, those resources in place that franchises get, right.
So while you know, you have fa uh, a whole plethora of things as a franchisee, right.
These people that there are hundreds, thousands of people across the country
that ha have no idea what you have acc what we have had access to that have made
our lives so much easier as franchisees.
So, uh, a as part of like our thought processes, what, how could
we build out some of this collateral to make the journey of an average
sign shop owner that much easier?
So I appreciate you saying that.
That means a lot to us cuz we've put a lot of thought and
effort into those resources.
Even something as simple as like a job description.
You know, writing out how you should write out a job description for hiring
a salesperson, a graphic designer, like taking that resource, copying it and
pasting it into your Indeed account just seems like too simple, right?
But the average sign shop owner is going in here and
man, okay, what should I write?
What am I looking for?
I have to take time out of my day and think about how I'm going
to sell my business to somebody.
So those resources are, are great.
Karrie Brock: Yeah.
And I.
Well, well think about two.
I'm sorry.
No, no, go ahead.
Uh, just think about it.
When, and you know, when we started back in the day in 1997,
I had a plotter and a computer.
Yep.
How simple could it be?
Now you've got latex versus solvent versus eco solvent versus UV flatbed
versus, oh, hey, there's a cutter, there's a, you know, a table.
I'm like, it, it's so much more complicated.
I mean, it doesn't have to be that complicated, but you know, it, it
can get overwhelming starting it.
And so having those resources, whether it be through you guys or a franchise
or something to help navigate that, it, it is huge I think in this day and age.
Bryant Gillespie: Yeah.
Looking back, like what would you say is like the biggest, like if you
had to pinpoint here's the one single benefit that we got that was the most
advantageous, what would you say it
Karrie Brock: is?
I think it was the education to get me outta the day to day so that I don't.
Become the integral part of our business.
Now that changes and fluctuates, obviously based on staffing.
That's true.
But, um, for the moment we really haven't had that issue
in a while, except for recently.
But yeah, for the most part, learning how to actually run my business and
free me up to do what I need to do has been the number one instrumental
thing and, and has helped me like, grow as a person, be a better, you know,
feel better about myself, feel like I spend enough time with my family and,
and the shop and have that balance.
So,
Bryant Gillespie: yeah, that's, yeah, that's the most important
thing I think is having that balance.
Uh, I talk to you a lot of owners that are get just getting ran over by their shop.
Like, Hey, we are spending 60 hours a week, and then I get
home exhausted, uh, only to come back and do it again next week.
Karrie Brock: Yeah.
But then I look at it too, like when Covid hit, right?
So here is, my husband works in the business with me.
He's back of the shop, I'm front of the shop and we have two kids and they're
school age and everything shuts down.
And I'm like, uh, how are we doing this?
You know, we gotta, we still have to put food on the table.
So, you know, having, having something where, okay, I can bring my kids
in, they can sit in the conference room, or my daughter who at the time
was only like nine was answering the phone, I'll get you to a salesperson.
And she transferred it to me just to give that five minutes, right?
Yes.
So like what you're teaching them and the opportunities that you
have for even that kind of growth.
I mean, it, it, it is really huge.
As long as you can set yourself up to do that.
When you mom and shop started person in your.
How, how
Peter Kourounis: long,
Bryant Gillespie: when you began that journey of transitioning out of that
role, how long did it take you to get to a point where you were comfortable like
walking off and leaving the shop for a couple days, or, you know, stepping
out of the day-to-day operations?
Karrie Brock: So I think that part, to me, you know, it was probably easier back then
cause the business wasn't as complicated.
Gotcha.
I remember we had, uh, two college interns.
They were girls and they were V C T majors and we brought 'em in, we trained them.
And I'm like, okay, you literally had two weeks of training.
I'm leaving for three days.
Have fun.
I'll see you when I get back.
And they're like, ok.
But they did a great job.
Right.
It wasn't as complicated.
Now depending on the staffing we have, you know, I still have anxiety and checking
emails and whatever from time to time.
But it's okay.
We've been able to take two weeks off as a family walk away and it hasn't burnt down.
So, you know, we're good.
Peter Kourounis: That's excellent.
You know, I, it hasn't burned down.
We've had a couple of people on here that have had their shops burn down, so I gotta
literally
Bryant Gillespie: stories.
Yeah, it's.
Karrie Brock: Okay, well, love knocking
Bryant Gillespie: on wood.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
So
Peter Kourounis: tell, tell us and our listeners about
these awards that you've won.
Karrie Brock: Yeah, so we're, we're very excited.
We, uh, in 2017 we won the project of the year for Fast Signs with our
city ag project, so that was amazing.
Very excited about that.
Yeah.
Bryant Gillespie: That's you guys, us, me,
Peter Kourounis: yeah.
My store.
I love, that's such a great project.
Thank you.
Okay.
So that
Karrie Brock: our ahead, that is our pride and joy.
Yeah.
That's our, I mean, that's our big accomplishment.
You know, just, just our sales achievement awards and what we've been
able to accomplish as a team together.
And our outside sales girl is absolutely phenomenal.
So she's, she's getting up there too in her awards and recognition.
So we're, we're proud of ourselves.
Bryant Gillespie: Tell us more about the City Ag Project
for us Fast signs outsiders.
Karrie Brock: Yeah.
Cause I, I apologize to fast signs people if it's like beat
in your beating a, a dead horse.
But, um, so we have a client who has used us for 20 plus years.
Um, they own an a restaurant concept called Scramblers, which is a
dine-in, uh, sit down restaurant.
And we did all of their marketing and advertising.
We even fine tuned their original logo.
And they've, they've gone through transitions over the years of changing
their name and things like that.
And they were really set on opening a fast casual concept.
And so once that finally came to fruition, we're like, okay, well,
you know, what are you gonna call it?
Whatever.
He's like, no, you're, you're gonna figure out what we're gonna call it.
I need a brand.
I need a name.
I need the concept.
Create the concept.
Okay, we can do this now.
My background is interior design.
That's what I went to school for.
So I'm like, okay, well we can, we can handle that.
We got branding.
I can figure out the design part.
We're good.
So we did, we, we put together three brand packages, different names,
different logos, and uh, even interior boards of what it would look like,
exterior boards, what it would look like.
And I pitched it to him and he hated it.
He absolutely hated it because it didn't have the original scramblers name in it.
And I was like, but it's a totally different concept.
Like it's, it's, uh, you know, we have a different demographic, we have a
different, the foods are kind of the same, but they're not gonna be called the same.
So it took a minute to convince him, but finally we got over the hump.
And so, uh, we like to say city was hatched and we just, uh, installed
the third, third location a few ago.
So, yeah.
Peter Kourounis: That's amazing.
That's awesome.
I hadn't, I had no idea that that was you coming into this, so that's
a little bit of a shocker to me.
Yes.
Uh, Brian, just to let you know, okay.
Uh, give you a little bit of background for our listeners here.
I'm only familiar with City Egg.
I'm all the way here in New York.
You're in Toledo and you know, you've done this project and now pretty much,
I think every center that has opened has like this sample in their lobby.
Like, I have a giant City Egg.
Like, this is what we can do for you.
It's like, yeah, you guys did that.
And we're like, yep.
We did, did fan signs, did just not my signs, but,
Bryant Gillespie: and her team, what you're telling me is
carrying her team or the model.
Of what we can do for you in every single fast signs
Peter Kourounis: across country.
That's what that, that explains my reaction.
She said, city Diego.
I'm like, you get the heck at, congratulations.
That's awesome.
You got, that's such a great project.
And you said then they have now opened up a couple of different, uh, locations.
Karrie Brock: Yeah, so there, it, the initial one was in
Columbus, Ohio, and then we did one in Toledo, downtown Toledo.
And then the third one was in Bowling Green, which is
about 30 minutes away from us.
It's a college town and, uh, it fits the demographic really well.
But yeah, we'll see how that goes.
I, I don't even know that they've officially opened the doors yet
cause there was some hurdles with, uh, permitting and whatnot.
But yeah, so the, it's exciting.
It's exciting that they're growing that concept as well.
Peter Kourounis: Great, great, great.
Bryant Gillespie: I'm gonna, I'm gonna play Mike here, Pete, just because
he's not on here, this, this is not typically something I would associate
with fast science, so, correct.
Kinda gimme the backstory there.
Like what was it like, was there like a transition process?
Had you guys done a lot of branding work and like larger, I, you
know, like entire signed packages and branding packages before?
Or was this kind of new.
Karrie Brock: Yeah, so I mean, with scramblers we had, so we
had history with the client.
We did all of the, when, when they rebranded to Scramblers,
because like I said, they renamed themselves a couple times.
And, um, when they came up with Scramblers, again, we did all kinds
of interior packaging, the exterior signs, and put together their standards.
Like even though they might open, uh, scramblers in another state, we won't
necessarily do the sign for them, but they're getting our signed specs so that
they make it to what we have dictated.
So we already had that relationship with the customer.
So I think that that's what helped.
But in the end, I mean, yes, we, we now do quite a bit of architectural signage
and full sign packages before that.
I wouldn't say we put together a whole piece for somebody, but have
we done all of those components separately for different customers?
Yes.
So it wasn't a new concept as far as the pieces and parts, and I think
that's what people need to realize is these large scale projects are really
taking one-offs of other things you've done and just making it one job, which
in really is the best thing, right?
Because it's one customer, one job, one focus.
Yeah.
Bryant Gillespie: Yeah.
I think the, the shift is like thinking of it as more of like a consultant hat on.
Instead of like, Hey, I'm a sign guy, or a signed woman.
Like, we're just making signs, you
Karrie Brock: know?
And yeah, so even the last City Ag that we did, you know, I drove
out there and I took my designer with me this time and we walked the
place and we helped break it out.
Like, okay, this is where you should put your kiosk for ordering.
This is where your barista's gonna be.
Okay, well then we'll move this to this place.
And so we kinda mapped out the floor plan too, but I think that also
goes a little bit hand in hand, like I said, with my background.
So not every sign company or even at, you know, traditional sign companies
are gonna necessarily have that advantage or be able to do that.
But as long as you can walk into a space and say, Hey, I can really take
these walls and build something for you that looks appealing, that's what
the customer really needs, right?
It's something to dress up that atmosphere.
Peter Kourounis: Carrie, I can't agree with you more.
I, I try to preach what you just said in so many training sessions
and where I get the biggest pushback from our listeners is how do you
get to be that authoritative figure?
You have, you have done everything right with the city egg.
You have done everything right.
They would be a fool to ever not listen to you going forward.
But here's the thing, you telling them where to place their kiosks, and this
is like what you, you're now infusing fat signs, Carrie Brock, you, your
company, your designer, everything into their ecosystem, into their operation.
You are now no longer a sign maker, right?
You are a linchpin to their success.
So I don't know if you have an answer, but I will ask nonetheless.
But.
How does a sign shop get there with a customer?
What do you do?
What were some of the things that you have done to help make that journey happen?
Turn this customer into one of your largest accounts.
So I
Karrie Brock: think the key is trust and the relationship you have Now, I
will be honest, he's tried to fire me a couple times and I said, go ahead.
Bryant Gillespie: You,
Karrie Brock: you just can't.
You cannot be afraid of losing that customer, but you still have to.
Listen enough and be adamant enough in, if you listen to me, I
promise I won't steer you wrong.
I have the suggestions that I have for a reason, and here's why.
Back them up, you know, explain what the, the purpose is for your decisions, but
have the confidence to know like, okay, if they don't choose it, that's fine.
I will do whatever you want.
We will mock it up both ways, right?
Like, here's what you wanted, here's what we suggest.
Those kinda simple things, even when you're talking about smaller projects,
but you have to have some sort of knowledge and education to back up
what you're saying because ultimately they are buying on your knowledge.
And if you have the confidence to show that it's easy, but,
but not overconfidence, right?
Like, no offense, but sometimes men get a little egotistical.
I'm only saying that this is about women.
You know, you don't wanna go in and bull them over.
You wanna impress them, you wanna wow them.
And you wanna explain, I have reasonings.
Peter Kourounis: Okay, but what do men do wrong here?
So sometimes I feel like you, you, you can, you can be honest.
Like, tell me what, yeah.
What do you see men in business doing wrong that maybe women
take a nicer route to doing?
Karrie Brock: Well, sometimes I feel like the approach is a
little more, it's, it's direct.
And I can definitely be direct, but I'm going to soften it.
I'm gonna be a little more PC, or I'm going to have a little
more polished to what I'm saying.
Because I don't wanna, I'm not trying to offend you.
I'm not trying to come across as the, albeit knowing everything, but
I'm going to show that I do have knowledge and education, which, you
know, that that's part of it, right?
Like part of it, instilling that trust without offending them or without making
them feel like, Well, I gotta go with him because he, he's strong arming me.
Like it's, it's my way or no way.
We've heard all the stories about how competitors handle certain things and
you know, we take a different approach.
Sometimes we are non assuming we are more, I'm gonna listen to you, I'm gonna sit
here, I'm gonna listen to all your needs.
I'm going to reiterate to you what you just told me because I heard you.
I didn't just listen.
I heard you, and here's how I can solve that problem for you.
Whereas sometimes, you know, think about it too, men want to solve problems, but
half the time they've already decided what they're gonna do because they know
Bryant Gillespie: laughing.
Cause you know, right.
Yeah.
She's exactly, you're describing every conversation with my wife where
she complains to me about something.
I'm like, well, what do you want me to do?
Like, okay, I could do this, I could do this.
Like, before she's even spit the whole thing out, I'm already
like, okay, like how can I fix this four months and move on?
It's,
Peter Kourounis: it's a hundred percent correct as a, as a sign shop,
as a male sign shop owner, you know, you're hit, you hit the hill right
on the head with that last statement.
It's like, yeah, I know what you need.
I already have my mind made up of what's going to go well here and now my job
is convincing you of that solution.
Whereas, you know, maybe, maybe you are taking a more softer approach.
Uh, maybe you're, you, like you said, you are listening, not just to respond,
you're listening so that you can formulate a much better thought, a lucid thought.
Um, yeah, men, men can be like that.
I know I am, so I, I'm not gonna speak for all men, but I
I can definitely agree to that.
I'm gonna, and
Karrie Brock: I'm not saying it's all men.
Bryant Gillespie: Yeah.
I'm gonna generalize and say like, tactful, and I heard Carrie say
relationship earlier in that same context.
I, I'll give you an example, Pete, like a former boss that I had not so distant.
Past.
He and I would occasionally butt heads on certain things, but there was a,
uh, an amazing female on our team that could take the same argument
that I had and sway him to her side in a way that I just, I could not
Karrie Brock: Very tactical.
Well think about it too.
We're so nurturing by nature and not all women, right?
Like this is, we're doing very broad generalizations, but we're more nurturing.
So I'm going to present you with two options.
I'm gonna present you with this is what you want, or this is what you
think you want, and this is what I think you should have, and here's why.
Here's why I, I don't like this option, and here's why I
think this option is better.
So it's just, it's being that open to I will do what you want to do.
But I do think there's a different option, whereas sometimes I think
guys come in with, Nope, this is it.
This is how we're doing it.
Sign on the line, gimme your deposit, let's go.
I'm moving on to the next one.
And I'm like, okay.
You know,
Bryant Gillespie: I, I think you're, you're accurate on a lot of counts.
I'm
Karrie Brock: never coming back on this podcast again.
No.
Bryant Gillespie: Uh, you're speaking too much truth.
That's that's why we're, we're laughing and, uh, getting red in the face because
I like, yeah, I can totally identify with it, especially in my personal life.
Um,
Peter Kourounis: so like,
Karrie Brock: well, and trust me.
Yeah.
I told you I work with my husband, so I still even have to do that with him.
That's
Bryant Gillespie: to get him to do a project that's inter Yeah.
I'm glad you brought that back up.
That was one of the things that I wanted to ask about was like, what is it like
working with your husband on a day-to-day
Karrie Brock: basis?
Honestly, Most days it's great.
We, we get along very, very well.
You know, we, we definitely know what the other needs to get their
stuff done, whether it's, you know, in the business or at home.
And we lean on each other's strengths and, and that's not
necessarily always the case.
And we, because we work in two separate sections of the business,
I think really that helps.
You know, if we were both salespeople, I don't know how well that would work
or if we were both production people.
I dunno how that would work.
But you know, there are times where I do have to push a little bit, like,
okay, I know you're telling me this is gonna take a while, but what's a while?
Like, I need a time, like I need a deadline, I need some answers.
But yeah, for the most part we get along pretty well and
we don't butt heads too much.
Although our younger, one of our younger team members, he's in B with my husband.
And sometimes he'll be listening and he'll be like,
Bryant Gillespie: ok, having a discussion.
Do you guys have like any type of agreement that you like, Hey,
once we leave the shop, like everything works, stops, or.
Oh
Karrie Brock: God, no.
We talk about a, you know, we come home to dinner and the kids
are like, are you guys done yet?
I'm like, Nope.
Keep going.
Bryant Gillespie: I, I was just curious because like, I look at my wife and
I as a, as a couple, we were great.
If we were like in business together, it would, it like, would
totally not work just at all.
Karrie Brock: I, I realize we're a rarity.
I I do accept that.
Peter Kourounis: Well,
and,
Bryant Gillespie: and we've had other, you know, like I
can think of Chris and his wife
Peter Kourounis: Peter.
Yeah.
We've had, that's the one that comes to mind.
Yeah.
We've had
Bryant Gillespie: several people that, that work with their family that are,
have been successful on the podcast.
So I, I, you know, I don't know if there's something there
that we should explore further.
Karrie Brock: I will say I used to, my dad used to be in the business for a minute.
Everyone thinks, oh, your dad started it.
No, he, he was a fighter pilot, had nothing to do with it.
Retired, needed a job.
So here we go.
But, um, he, uh, he and I would butt heads way more than Randy and I,
Randy and I get along much better.
We're more even keeled.
We balance each other out.
But he and I, it was that whole dad or dad dod daughter relationship where he
couldn't get past the, but I'm the dad.
I'm in charge.
I'm like, but I own more than you.
Let's, let's
Bryant Gillespie: about, I'm the one helping you out.
Dad.
Karrie Brock: Yeah.
Two-way street, but I just took more percentage.
That's ok.
Bryant Gillespie: There you go.
There you go.
So what has been your experience as a, just a, a woman in the sign
industry, kinda in general over the last, you know, 20 years or so?
Karrie Brock: So I think it was, it was a lot different back in the day,
and especially when my dad would work with me, so he was also back of
the shop versus front of the shop.
And so I'd be waiting on a customer and talking to them and he'd walk in the front
door to go do something and they're like, oh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Start talking to him and I'm like, He can't help you.
Like he can't answer your questions.
He, but they would just direct it cuz they thought, oh, he he must own it.
He must know.
Um, and it was hard, I think in the beginning because building that trust with
like contractors, we, we were in a plaza with a bunch of plumbing and building
and all those kind of contractors and so gaining their trust that, yeah, I, I
can put a sign together, you guys build houses, but I can put a sign together.
It was a little more tricky back then.
I feel like lately, especially in the last five years, it has definitely
shifted and I've seen more and more women and connected with more and more women.
Like with the Wendy Graves in the Wise Women and uh, even other fast
science owners have been fantastic.
We really have come together to help support each other
and build each other up.
So it's been much different over the last five years versus 26 years ago.
Peter Kourounis: Yes.
Carrie, what, what advice do you have for other women in the industry?
Karrie Brock: I, I would tell them to know their technical details because
we are very tech oriented, right?
As far as technicalities, um, engineering, that kinda stuff.
So don't be afraid of that.
Learn as much as you can about that, because that's where I see most of
the time where we get looked down upon like, yeah, you might be able to do the
design work and you might make it look pretty, but do you know how it functions?
So just know your stuff and know how to back that up.
And educate, educate, educate
Peter Kourounis: yourself.
Okay.
So how could we get more women interested in or involved in the sign industry?
What would you think it would be a good way for, for us in this platform and
any other platforms that are out there?
How, what would you suggest would be a good way of.
Karrie Brock: You need a panelist?
That's a woman.
No.
Yes, it's ok.
Um,
Bryant Gillespie: be intimidated.
Karrie Brock: Um, no, but seriously, I think like, you know, just being open to
having the conversations and being willing to listen to us and understand and, and
know too that we don't know everything.
Just you guys don't know everything.
We don't know everything.
But together we can make it so much better.
And like you guys have already done, just letting us speak and ask questions
and be a source or re ask for resources in your group, that's even better.
And having that open, welcoming forum, that's all we're looking
for because remember, we're the ones wanting to connect and build
the relationships and all of that.
So we thrive on making sure that we have good, solid resources.
And I would rather run to somebody who has more knowledge and expertise
than I do, whether it's a man or a woman, as long as I know that
it's an approachable situation.
Peter Kourounis: Do you have any questions for us before we go?
Karrie Brock: I don't, I dunno.
I don't think so.
I feel like I know you guys, I listen to all the podcasts, but I'm
like, you need more of them faster.
I'm like, every so many weeks is killing me here.
Bryant Gillespie: I've got, I've got one question that I, and I mentioned,
I was gonna ask this to Peter.
Like, ever since the, the Women in Signs group joined our group, like
probably, I think there was a hundred women that joined afterwards after
the first game, but I noticed that the women were asking way better
questions as a business owner than some of the, the men in the group were.
And I didn't know if there's, like, if you had any hypothesis or, you know,
reason why that is or I was just curious.
Um, well,
Karrie Brock: I don't, I don't think so.
I think that we.
Maybe sometimes we see a bigger picture and, and don't try to get
lost in the weeds, although, you know, that depends on the person.
I can get lost in the weeds on a project easily too.
But yeah, just always trying to, you know, we're, we're trying to
juggle so many things that we need to be as efficient as possible.
We need to have answers to certain things so that we can
make a system and then move on.
You know, I think we're, we're really good at making systems.
We have to juggle the house and juggle the kids and juggle the business.
Um, so we're just trying to make it all work and, you know, if you guys have
answers, we we're all for hearing up because if we can make our lives easier
so we can, you know, not drop every ball that we are carrying, that'd be great.
Peter Kourounis: So what's, what's the, what's the future for you?
What's the future for your business?
What does that look like next 3, 5, 10 years?
Karrie Brock: Yeah, so I, you know, I wish I could tell you because if, if you
would've asked me 10 years ago, would you be fabricating large electrical
signs, would you be doing this?
Would you, I would've said, no, actually, my dad had those dreams
and I'm like, we're not doing that.
I am not doing that as we have a wall paint booth now and everything.
Yeah.
Peter Kourounis: Actually, actually, hold on.
I'm gonna ask you a different question and I actually promised
our listeners I would definitely ask here, so I, I almost forgot to ask.
Okay.
Fair signs.
The network, when you take a look at the collective, the macro of
all of the owners, the majority of them do not fabricate, right?
The majority of them do not.
I did you do?
Why do you, why do you think that is?
Why do you think that Fast Sign says to you, yeah, fabrication is not
necessarily a part of our desired business model, but you can grow into it.
Why do you think that that is?
Karrie Brock: I think the biggest reason is there's just
so many more complexities to it.
You know, to, to get up and running as a print shop, vinyl shop,
that's a lot simpler process.
You know, when you start talking about fabrication, there's a lot more
rules, regulations, you know, you're, you're talking a lot of different
technicalities that not everyone can handle, and it takes a skillset.
You know, I, I probably wouldn't be doing it, but my husband
has a mechanics background.
He has welding certs.
Like, he kinda drove us into this.
Our clients drove us into it.
The market that we're in drove us into it.
So I think it's not as easy to replicate, and there's a lot more
questions that come up with that.
So they might not be, they are getting better.
We have a exterior fabrication group.
If you're not, you know, if you wanna check that out.
But I think that it's a harder track to the business to get up and running.
Do you
Peter Kourounis: enjoy that you fabricate or would you ever think about going back?
Could you ever go backwards if you can back to a final shop?
No.
Karrie Brock: You know, some days I think, oh my God, we were so much more profitable
when we were so much more simpler.
But it,
Bryant Gillespie: there's that question.
Cause final shops, you know, they preach
Peter Kourounis: interior decor, interior decor, high profit margins.
Yeah.
We get into this, we get into this business not as a fast signs, but as a
desired fine shop owner because we know margins and vinyl are through the roof.
Right.
I hope our customers are not listening to this, but yeah.
You know what I'm getting at?
Like, yeah, I know what you're gonna make some good money.
We make some good money on design and vinyl related products.
Everybody knows that.
But once you get into fabrication, what I, what they also know
is the margins are lower.
So with margins being lower, but the ticketed sales being higher, right?
One might argue, I mean, I'm not one to argue this question, but I
have had people on the show say, why would you ever get into that?
You know, what was the reasoning behind it?
Uh, I don't have a mechanical background.
I had to learn on the job.
So learning how to use a C N C router, learning how to use old laser, a
channel letter, you know, Accu, you know, and all the machines that go
along with that, that comes with, okay, I gotta, I'm going to school today
and I'm gonna learn this new machine.
But why do you go through that when the margins are lower?
Karrie Brock: Well, and I think you brought up a good point.
The margins might be lower percentage wise, but the tickets are bigger.
So that does balance itself out.
I'm not gonna lie, I do feel like we probably make more money now than we
did 20 years ago, but, you know, I had a fast science owner in my board
group ask me the same thing, you know, I know Carrie, that it's all fun and
creative and, and you like the, the creativeness of it, but shouldn't you
just go back to the regular model?
And I'm like, no, because this is for one.
If you look at my whip, it's more than 50% of our whip right now.
So no, I'm not gonna back and cut our sales in half.
It's the challenge.
You know, I, we focus here in our shop on solution-based thinking.
That is the number one thing that everyone needs to come to the table with.
And we all enjoy that, and we really care about making those brands stand
out and look different and unique.
And so that is the avenue where we feel we get the most bang for our buck.
So,
Peter Kourounis: so I'm gonna echo, I'm gonna echo that same sentiment,
but I'm gonna just take it a little bit, a little bit further.
See, the reason why I got into fabrication was because I wanted the control of all of
those things that are in your head, right?
So if I needed to route something dimensional letters, I knew that
I was gonna produce it and what my capabilities were not, what a vendor's
capabilities were in having to, you know, possibly go through that
procedure of going through, okay, let's, let's, let's send them the mockup.
Let's wait for a quote.
Let's get this back.
Let's take a look at it.
Let's make sure they got it right.
If, if I can own that entire process with my creative team, okay, we're
gonna make three layered dimensional, H D U signs, paint some graphics, X,
Y, z, I actually know how to build that with within my own resources.
So material cost, equipment, timing, overhead, all that goes into that formula.
And that's why I decided to get into it.
Cause I can have 100% control over the, the sale price, right?
And people might say to you, well, Pete, I always have a hundred
percent control over the sale price.
If I'm outsourcing it, I can control what I wanna do.
I'm like, wrong.
You don't, you don't control it because that vendor has a price.
You know, the, the, that's that price from that, that, that vendor, that that
supplier and you know, you have to live.
Outside of that, you have to live with those margins being,
uh, taken up out of your pocket.
So if you can bring all of that into your company, all of that equipment, maybe
extra labor, maybe extra square footage, whatever the case may be, the goal for
me was, well, now I'm going to be able to produce a channel letter product, or
a routed product, or a painted project, whatever the case was, I'm gonna be
able to handle it inside my four walls.
And that's the reason why I did.
So.
I, I, I like what you said.
I love what, no, excuse me.
I love what you said.
But you know, when fast signs looked at my company, they said, well, you
know, we just don't do fabrication.
You know, it's just not our thing.
Not, it's not our thing.
You know, we have a vendor network for that.
And I'm like, okay.
Well that was, that was the biggest, uh, for me when deciding on
converting, that was the biggest like.
Stick point of contention, they're putting a lot of emphasis on interior decor.
And I'm like, well, my mar you said your market dictated your whip.
And I look at, I look at like, I've done 18 channel letter jobs this month.
And I'm like, I I, I'm not gonna throw that away, right?
Yeah.
I make more margin on vinyl, but these, this is like 200, $300,000
worth of sales right here.
I'm, I'm, I'm not throwing that away.
So yeah, and for those of you out there that don't know whip,
it means work in progress.
I, I knew what you meant when you said that, but I'm not sure
if our listeners did, but Okay.
Go ahead.
Well, the
Karrie Brock: other thing too, I mean you brought up really good points because
on one of your podcasts you guys talked about outsourcing so much and I literally
was cringing and having like ticks when you guys were talking about it.
I agree to an extent.
Like, I'm not gonna go run out and get a sub machine, I'm not gonna
go print fabric, I'm not gonna do certain things, but mm-hmm.
You, your story is exactly why we bought our channel letter bender.
So for one, I, we weren't competitive with one of the number one companies in town.
Like I could not win a set of channel letters against them if we're
going head-to-head on price only.
Right?
So I'm like, okay, we've gotta build 'em ourselves.
If they're building them themselves, we've gotta build them ourselves.
2020 hits.
Cause I think we got it in 19, or right before 2020 converted or changed over.
2020 hits.
Guess what?
There are no raceways.
The channel letter people are 12 to 15 weeks out.
I knocked out a set of channel letters in two weeks.
I'm like, haha, we got you.
Cause now we've got you on time.
Because they weren't building their channel letters in house.
They were using the same vendor we were, but they weren't marking it up as much.
They weren't marking it up at all.
So I'm like, okay, well now I'm, I'm making money, more money because,
you know, it's, it's a little bit of labor, but once the guys figured out
how to use it, that's the other thing.
These bigger projects, they're bigger ticket items.
But think of how long it takes to print a roll of vinyl
laminate it, cut it, process it.
That's a lot of labor intensiveness where a set of channel letters we
can knock out in a couple days.
Not, not as much.
And one guy and one basic machine.
I mean, it, it's a, it's a game changer.
It really is.
But my husband was not on board with that channel letter bender for years.
I was like, we need one, we need one.
He's like, Nope.
And then I won.
Peter Kourounis: Yeah.
I would say that you would've definitely won that argument.
Uh, I can't, I can't side with anybody that thinks that bending
letters manually is faster than what I can put outta the machine.
Oh, he didn't
Karrie Brock: wanna do it at all.
He, he didn't wanna do it at all.
He didn't wanna do it at all.
Bryant Gillespie: I was like, no, we're getting this machine.
Peter Kourounis: Oh, no, no, no, no.
You won that audio.
Yeah.
I,
Bryant Gillespie: I'm gonna go on record here, Carrie, and just suggest
your superpower is like rising to the challenge and like figuring it out.
Is that, would that, would that, I, it'd be close if you were there.
I'll take that.
I'll accept that
Karrie Brock: yourself.
I, I can accept that.
Yeah.
Bryant Gillespie: I've, that come up several times and I,
I just wanted to call it out.
And that's, you know, that's totally ao Okay.
Like, hey, when I started in the industry, I was driven by a lot of those same things
of like, Hey, how is this sign made and can we make something like that in-house?
Yeah.
And that drove me a, a lot of times more than I care to admit where I
would be working long hours, just trying to figure something out.
Uh, kind of the challenge of it.
And next up
Karrie Brock: is awnings, but my husband still says no.
I'm like, I'm gonna win that one too, but gimme, gimme a couple years.
Bryant Gillespie: Yeah.
So talk to us about the future.
We kind of bring this one to a close.
Like, what's the future for you?
What's the future for the shop?
We, we'll keep it really, you know, we
Karrie Brock: open-ended.
Yeah.
We continue to do what we do and I just, you know, we'd like to bring in more
capabilities and more people and yeah.
I mean, doing the same thing we always do and we just grow with
it and grow with our clients.
I, I don't know, however, to sum that up any
Bryant Gillespie: better than that.
Any specific plans?
More locations, more equipment, more capabilities?
Like what's the, what is, let me rephrase.
Like what's the endgame for you?
Karrie Brock: So, you know, I'm approaching 50 and my
husband's already in his 50.
So, you know, we are thinking about the downturn eventually,
you know, 10 years from now.
But, um, we, we built this building we're in about four years ago
and we've already outgrown it.
It's about 6,500 square feet.
So we would like to build out a separate fab shop and if we do that,
I will win the awning argument.
But if we, it'll be, you know, something on the back lot so that we can just have
fab separated out from the rest of it.
Cause that's just the part that's growing more and more, more intricate things.
You know, we've done LEDs and EMCs and, and tall GA station signs, and
so I feel like we've stretched our gamut pretty well as far as that goes.
But I, I really am open for whatever comes our way and, you know, as long
as they're willing to accept the challenge with me, but more people
Bryant Gillespie: and we'll see what happens.
Yeah.
Excellent.
I love it.
Beautiful Pete.
Any other questions on the, the fast signs side of things?
We all have, we beat that to death.
Are you, I think
Peter Kourounis: we, I think we may have beaten that to death.
Uh, a little bit.
I mean, I, I I'm so excited.
Uh, we're, I was so excited to have you on here, Carrie.
So, uh, we can geek out a little bit.
Um, did you, did you go to convention?
I did this past
Bryant Gillespie: the, I did.
You
Peter Kourounis: did?
Yep.
Very nice.
Okay.
How did you like, uh, Las Vegas?
Karrie Brock: Ugh, I hate Las Vegas.
Like everything's in Las Vegas this year.
I'm like, no, not going Isa.
I'm not going, no, not going any of that.
Yeah.
Once was enough.
I just not, not me.
Mm-hmm.
Peter Kourounis: Well, thank you so much for coming on board here and
talking with Brian and I I'm, I'm so happy to have you and good luck
the rest of the way and City Egg.
Do not fire Harry Brock.
And that is never gonna happen.
Bryant Gillespie: Yeah.
Thanks guys.
It was fun.
Yeah, absolutely.
If, uh, anybody is interested in learning more about Citi Egg Project
or your locations or connecting with you, is there any place you'd like
them to reach out or you on Twitter?
They can email me.
LinkedIn, email?
Karrie Brock: Yeah.
Email's fine.
I'm like, not Twitter, TikTok.
Bryant Gillespie: My kids are like complaining to me that I
need to get TikTok and I'm like, uh, no, I, I'm not gonna do it.
Peter Kourounis: We
Karrie Brock: started a TikTok channel for the shop.
There you go.
You, you can
Bryant Gillespie: check that out there.
There you go.
Yeah.
Karrie Brock: I don't have much to do with it, but you can see some
of the creativity about our team.
Yeah.
Carrie, what's your store
Peter Kourounis: number?
5 84.
Okay, so everybody can get Carrie at 5 5 80 four@fastsigns.com.
5 84.
There you go.
At Fast signs.com.
Thank you so much Carrie.
Appreciate you jumping on.
Thanks guys.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Thanks Gary.
You too.
Bye.
Bryant Gillespie: All right.
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